President Mauricio Macri  had previously lifted many protectionist practices of his predecessor, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

The government, faced with a huge crisis, now issued a decree allowing the central bank to restrict purchases of dollars as it burns through its reserves in an effort to prop up the peso currency.

The measure means companies will need permission from the central bank to access the foreign exchange market to purchase foreign currency and make transfers abroad.

The government of Latin America’s third largest economy said in the decree that “the executive branch needed to adopt a series of extraordinary measures aimed at ensuring the normal functioning of the economy.”

A spokesman for the International Monetary Fund, with which Argentina has a $57-billion standby agreement, said its staff were analyzing Argentina’s “capital flow management measures with the aim of protecting exchange rate stability and the savers.”

Opposition candidate Alberto Fernandez and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who is now running for vice president, won the 11 August primary vote.

Macri’s government and the central bank are trying to stabilize the economy as the 27 October presidential election nears, seeing Fernandez as a favourite to win.